Although fall is months away, it seems like the season is stretching year round for Bret Bielema and his players.
The Wisconsin football team closed its spring practices Saturday with the annual spring game. Over 20,000 trekked to Camp Randall to witness the Cardinal squad defeat their teammates in White 28-3.
The Cardinal scored its first nine points on the leg of freshman Philip Welsh and got the game's first touchdown when junior Lance Smith ran in from three yards out. The only other touchdown came when freshman quarterback James Stallons found sophomore tight end Lance Kendricks with an arching pass on a post pattern with five minutes left in the game.
This was the first chance for Badgers fans to see several of the five players vying for the starting quarterback job. Senior Allen Evridge started for the Cardinal, which usually includes the top players on the depth chart, and threw for 137 yards Saturday.
I thought the quarterbacks did an outstanding job of moving the ball early but threw a couple critical interceptions,"" Bielema said. ""They were good plays defensively, but on the flip side, we can't turn the ball over.""
Bielema went on to say that the competition for the position is not over and that the decision will be made late in fall camp, around the same time that Tyler Donovan was announced as starter last year. The coach emphasized that the trait he is looking for is consistency, and the quarterbacks echoed that as a goal for themselves.
Junior quarterback Dustin Shearer, who currently sits in the No. 2 spot on the depth chart, made a point of saying the players do not let competing for playing time create any personal animosity.
""We're totally aware that only one of us can play, but we're a pretty close group. All of us get along really well,"" Shearer said. ""People say me and Allen, it's a big battle, y'know him and I get along really well. We help each other out, and in the back of out minds we know it's only gonna be one of us, but really it's just about the team.""
Entering the game, the Badgers did not have their full lineup of players because of a rash of injuries during the spring. Fifteen players were not able to play Saturday, ten who were starters.
Senior defensive end Matt Shaughnessy broke a bone in his leg earlier in the week and sophomore running back Zach Brown, who started the final four games of the season and had 250 yards against Minnesota, suffered a bruise on his shin during the game.
The absence of Brown, however, did little to dampen expectations about the Wisconsin ground game with the top four Badger runners gaining nearly 240 yards on the ground.
Highly regarded freshman John Clay ran for 94 yards on 21 carries in his first action in front of the fans at Camp Randall. On one second-half possession, the 231-pound Clay was fed the ball on more than five straight runs up the middle and responded by carrying the White offense down field.
Bielema said Clay was given the ball often so he could become more consistent in his paths and because ""everybody wanted to see him.""
""What I need to improve on is just knowing, like, where I should be at to block or whatever like that, so, just knowing my assignments,"" Clay said.
After the first and third quarters the team ran a rapid-fire kicking exercise in which the top two kickers, Welsh and junior Matt Fischer, attempted four field goals each from varying distances, earning one point for each make. The two combined to hit 8-of-16 attempts.
""I wanted those kickers to kick in a live situation. Try to create as much game simulation as possible,"" Bielema said. ""It was the first time all eyes were on them, and ironically, I think the first segment went better than the second. They had more time to think about it and there was a couple snap issues as well.
